Recommended USB Tuner for Linux? (x-post /r/HTPC)
Can anyone recommend a decent USB tuner that is supported by Linux? Like this one. My desktop does not have a free PCI slot for a card, so USB would be great.
If anyone has any advice on recording live TV on Linux from such a tuner (I am going to use Kodi for my main front-end) that would also be great. Thanks!
edit: lost a link in the x-post shuffle
Posted Feb 23, 2017, 2:27 AM UTC · edited
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Don't know anything about PVR backends for Kodi, but RTL-SDR with an adapter should work for the physical interface (it is what it was originally designed for, after all) just make sure to plug the SDR dongle into the back of the machine or directly into the motherboard, as lost samples from USB errors might degrade video quality.
Thanks a million! Looks like a dongle with that chip should do me fine for a whole lot cheaper than I had though possible. I like to tinker with this stuff so I should be able to get this going on a low budget.
Are you suggesting I use one of the back USBs (on the motherboard) and not the front USBs (separate board that plugs into mobo)?
Yes. Shorter path to the USB endpoint means fewer lost samples from the radio. (there is a test utility to see sample loss, compare both ports if you want)